Artist's conception of an on-demand desktop factory Decreasing the size of manufacturing equipment enables more compact facilities for cleaning and temperature control, which in turn allow major reductions in capital investment and energy consumption. On-demand manufacturing systems that "make enough of what's necessary when it's necessary" are expected to make a major contribution to industrial energy conservation.

Dreams of exploring both outer space and ever deeper into the terrestrial microcosm are now becoming a reality. The spirit of taking on new challenges – pursuing dreams, opening up new frontiers – is serving as a locomotive force that is rapidly expanding new industrial frontiers in new fields such as nanotechnology, biotechnology and eco-technology. R&D that enables the realization of such dreams will form the foundation of the economy in the 21st century and a key to economic leadership. The government plays a critical role in this and this role is to provide the necessary assistance and conditions to enable the personnel to actualize such developments, effecting the transition of all this energy into national wealth.

Click to view large image The aim of the Innovation Superhighway concept

As Japan faces the arrival of an aging society with a low birthrate, globalization and intensifying international competition, and increasingly difficult environmental and energy constraints, innovation has become an extremely important catalyst for economic growth.

Just as the development of the Internet and the popularization of mobile phones have dramatically changed our lifestyles, so will the emergence of innovative technologies that will create many new businesses and industries, which in turn will generate the need for new technology, leading to investment for the next innovation; thus, a virtuous cycle is formed. METI promotes the "Innovation Superhighway" concept, carrying out various initiatives to create a virtuous demand-innovation cycle.

How do we prevent state-of-the-art technology generated by R&D from lying dormant; how do we consistently link such technology to innovation; and how do we ensure that innovation leads to a chain reaction that encourages stronger industrial competitiveness? It is this kind of efficient, proper management that is required of industrial technology policy.

Our technology policy is intended to set free the creative potential of each individual and develop a group of leading-edge industries capable of winning in global competition through their ability to predict the needs of future markets. We wish to foster and harness a spirit of accepting challenges that will sustain the creation of advanced technologies.

METI is working at planning and implementing a series of strategic R&D investments. To do so, METI has drawn up a "technology strategy map" that lays out technological goals and measures designed to create demand for products and services for each area associated with new industries in fields such as semiconductors, new drug development and diagnosis, and robotics.

Along with the development of the human resources that will be responsible for innovation and technology creation, it is essential to improve the environment for the proactive utilization of the abundant technological seeds lying dormant at universities and research institutes. METI provides support for the development of the core human resources that will be responsible on manufacturing floors, venture companies originating from universities, and TLOs (technology licensing organizations).

METI further supports the development of the commercialization of technology and preferential tax treatment to encourage more vigorous R&D activities at private firms.

Digital cameras are now almost universally used. The secret behind the explosive growth of such products, their widespread use and Japan's 80%-plus share of the world market in this product category is believed to lie in Japan having established a global standard for the picture file format that constitutes a key technology for digital camera use. The establishment of global standards is an important key to enable our technology to win in the world market. International standardization has become a worldwide trend, as it is now being promoted not only by the United States and European nations, but also by China as a national project. If a technology fails to be established as a global standard, it may be excluded from the market despite its superiority. METI is actively working towards international standardization in a number of areas including strategic standardization of future growth fields such as nanotechnology, robots, and IC tags by setting up standards ahead of other countries through promotion of national R&D projects linked with standardization.

At present, when society has a greater need for security and safety, one of METI's most important activities is to provide scientific bases and effective systems that ensure that safety and security measures are reliable. METI is dedicated, for instance, to the development of yardsticks for correctly measuring noxious substances contained in food, or the amount of environmental pollutants emitted by a machine or product. Our activities extend to infrastructural improvement, including the standardization of examination methods to facilitate the evaluation of safety based on scientific grounds. These activities further serve to ensure the reliability of new technologies originating from Japan and contribute to the strengthening of Japan's industrial competitiveness.

Regarding systems that provide security and safety, we are working to properly apply, among other things, the JIS mark scheme (JIS=Japanese Industrial Standards) and measurement systems that enable and promote fairness in economic activities.

Examples range from standards for indentations on the sides of shampoo bottles and facilities for the elderly and people with disabilities in public restrooms to environmentally-friendly cement that makes effective use of waste ash from municipal incinerators that would normally be incinerated.

3-D nanometer-scale technology essential for evaluating new features made possible by nanotechnology

The JIS mark

JIS S 0026 Design guidelines for the elderly and people with disabilities: Shapes, colors, and layout of operating parts and layout of fixtures

Through construction of a society that contributes to both environmental protection and economic growth, we should achieve sustainable development and maintain our beautiful planet to be passed on to the next generation. In order to fulfill this mission, the Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau undertakes initiatives such as the promotion of anti-global warming policies and the building of a sustainable society that conserves resources.

In order to achieve the reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions stipulated in the Kyoto Protocol, we are energetically improving our energy efficiency, promoting the introduction of new and renewable energies and further utilizing Kyoto mechanisms, as well as developing various new technologies based on the Kyoto Protocol Target Achievement Plan. In addition, the participation of all major greenhouse gas emitting countries, including the U.S. China, and India, is essential to the advancement of effective measures against global warming in the next framework following the end of the Kyoto Protocol commitments in 2013. Japan will therefore actively participate in international discussions and carry out full discussions with the relevant countries.

Aiming for a shift from a mass production, mass consumption, mass disposal society to a sustainable society that conserves resources, the Bureau promotes the so-called 3Rs, controlling the generation of waste (reduce), promoting reuse of parts, and recycling of waste, through initiatives such as building systems for recycling containers, packaging, and PCs, and promoting "Design for Environment" (DfE), which considers resource conservation and recycling from the design stage.

So that efforts to address environmental issues will lead to the creation of new businesses and strengthen our international industrial competitiveness, the Bureau supports environment-related businesses including community enterprise and facilitates environmentally sound corporate management through environmental management accounting and so on.

Treatment of factory smoke and wastewater and the proper handling of industrial waste are essential to our ability to live safely and securely. The Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau supports corporations in their efforts to build frameworks for pollution prevention and other operations that consider the environment.

PET bottle recycling